Welcome to 2005
Well, here we are- big and live in 2005. Weird. Seems like just five minutes ago that we were discussing whether we would say ‘the year two thousand’ or ‘20-oh-oh’ and now we are halfway through the first decade of the new millennium and it isn’t as exciting anymore.
Not that life in general isn’t exciting. Life is infinitely interesting but this email will contain a finite number of interesting incidents. The fun all started on Christmas Eve where much of the teaching day was spent making Christmas cards with kids that can’t read or write English so came up with some interesting ways to spell Christmas- bless ‘em! I did write it for them to copy. Actually, the fun really started on the Wednesday before Christmas when the first snow of the winter fell during my kindergarten class. Snow is so much more magical when you are with kids. Thursday it snowed all day but it had all gone in time for Christmas so I was denied a white one.
To solve the conumdrum of how to get ready to go out while having arranged to meet folk immediately after class on Christmas Eve, I decided to have my last class of the day in my house. I only have the one student at that time and we had great fun opening some of my Christmas presents together. We chatted as I got my make up on and put my hair up. The owner of Bumpin had got a turkey in for our Christmas Eve dinner which was very thoughtful of him. I woke up the next morning, gathered together all my Christmas presents and went back to bed to open them. I watched the soap operas and opened presents- it was great!
Later that day, I met up with mates and we had Chinese food for dinner. Then we went to the DVD bang and watched a movie. We arrived in the bar to discover that all had been drinking in our absence and were quite mullered already. However, everyone appreciated the chocolate and Yule log that I had been sent. My friends’ gifts made me look really good in the bar that night!! We ended the day at the singing room and everyone came back to mine- left just before 7am. It was a good day.
Boxing Day was another movie day- we went to see Polar Express and had dinner again. Monday I went to Seoul, more socialising and another night in the singing room. Tuesday, was spent shopping, movie and dinner again. Wednesday- see Tuesday! Thursday was different altogether.
On Thursday we got up at 5.30 (me, Sam and her mate, Liam, that is) am, in the morning, o’clock. Why so early??? Because we were heading off into North Korea for the day. Well, almost. I have visited the DMZ (demilitarised zone) a couple of times before and been done the North Korean tunnel and spied on the farmers on the other side of the border.
But this was different because we went right into the heart of the DMZ. The DMZ itself goes from coast to coast in Korea and is four miles wide. In the middle of it is the MDL (the military demarcation line) and that is where you can find the object of our attention that day - the JSA (the Joint Security Area) which straddles the border between North and South Korea. We arrived at that place and went into the building on the South Korea side that was built for family reunions but has never been used for that purpose.
We were told that when we got outside we had to walk quickly, without stopping, in two lines to the MAC conference building. This building is half in each country. So when we got there we were able to walk around and so actually stood in North Korea for a few minutes. The guards in the room are South Korean and we were told that the door to North Korea had been locked. After that we were taken to an observation tower and allowed to take photos but told not to point at the North Korean soldiers. We saw the World’s most dangerous golf course and tennis court- we were allowed to take photos of the one hole golf course but not the tennis court, for some reason.
It was an immensely strange day but really interesting. The tour finished at about two after which we went home to nap. Friday was NYE and we went clubbing. It was a massive venue in the COEX mall. It was good but not as a good a show as last year but fun nonetheless. Probably because the beer was free until midnight. We got a taxi back at around 4.30. Yesterday I got the bus back to Gangneung, downloaded the New Year soaps and relaxed. Tomorrow I am back to work- bugger, bugger, bugger!!
I am attaching some photos for your viewing pleasure.
Happy New Year to you all. Hope to see you all in 2005 and catch up on all the gossip.
Love, love and more love
Helen
xxx
Not that life in general isn’t exciting. Life is infinitely interesting but this email will contain a finite number of interesting incidents. The fun all started on Christmas Eve where much of the teaching day was spent making Christmas cards with kids that can’t read or write English so came up with some interesting ways to spell Christmas- bless ‘em! I did write it for them to copy. Actually, the fun really started on the Wednesday before Christmas when the first snow of the winter fell during my kindergarten class. Snow is so much more magical when you are with kids. Thursday it snowed all day but it had all gone in time for Christmas so I was denied a white one.
To solve the conumdrum of how to get ready to go out while having arranged to meet folk immediately after class on Christmas Eve, I decided to have my last class of the day in my house. I only have the one student at that time and we had great fun opening some of my Christmas presents together. We chatted as I got my make up on and put my hair up. The owner of Bumpin had got a turkey in for our Christmas Eve dinner which was very thoughtful of him. I woke up the next morning, gathered together all my Christmas presents and went back to bed to open them. I watched the soap operas and opened presents- it was great!
Later that day, I met up with mates and we had Chinese food for dinner. Then we went to the DVD bang and watched a movie. We arrived in the bar to discover that all had been drinking in our absence and were quite mullered already. However, everyone appreciated the chocolate and Yule log that I had been sent. My friends’ gifts made me look really good in the bar that night!! We ended the day at the singing room and everyone came back to mine- left just before 7am. It was a good day.
Boxing Day was another movie day- we went to see Polar Express and had dinner again. Monday I went to Seoul, more socialising and another night in the singing room. Tuesday, was spent shopping, movie and dinner again. Wednesday- see Tuesday! Thursday was different altogether.
On Thursday we got up at 5.30 (me, Sam and her mate, Liam, that is) am, in the morning, o’clock. Why so early??? Because we were heading off into North Korea for the day. Well, almost. I have visited the DMZ (demilitarised zone) a couple of times before and been done the North Korean tunnel and spied on the farmers on the other side of the border.
But this was different because we went right into the heart of the DMZ. The DMZ itself goes from coast to coast in Korea and is four miles wide. In the middle of it is the MDL (the military demarcation line) and that is where you can find the object of our attention that day - the JSA (the Joint Security Area) which straddles the border between North and South Korea. We arrived at that place and went into the building on the South Korea side that was built for family reunions but has never been used for that purpose.
We were told that when we got outside we had to walk quickly, without stopping, in two lines to the MAC conference building. This building is half in each country. So when we got there we were able to walk around and so actually stood in North Korea for a few minutes. The guards in the room are South Korean and we were told that the door to North Korea had been locked. After that we were taken to an observation tower and allowed to take photos but told not to point at the North Korean soldiers. We saw the World’s most dangerous golf course and tennis court- we were allowed to take photos of the one hole golf course but not the tennis court, for some reason.
It was an immensely strange day but really interesting. The tour finished at about two after which we went home to nap. Friday was NYE and we went clubbing. It was a massive venue in the COEX mall. It was good but not as a good a show as last year but fun nonetheless. Probably because the beer was free until midnight. We got a taxi back at around 4.30. Yesterday I got the bus back to Gangneung, downloaded the New Year soaps and relaxed. Tomorrow I am back to work- bugger, bugger, bugger!!
I am attaching some photos for your viewing pleasure.
Happy New Year to you all. Hope to see you all in 2005 and catch up on all the gossip.
Love, love and more love
Helen
xxx
posted by Helen @ 10:38 AM
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